February 14, 2012
hjweinbergfoundation.org

 

Greetings from everyone at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation!  

Another fiscal year draws to a close, and the Foundation is pleased to announce the distribution of nearly $86 million in grants this past year as well as the approval of an additional $49 million in grants for future payment.

The Foundation offers its sincere thanks to all of the grantee organizations which have utilized these resources.

Recent Grants

Basic Human Needs & Health

The Foundation supports programs that meet the basic needs of individuals, families, and communities. These include programs in the areas of homeless services, economic assistance, food security, and health.

Pregnancy Aid Center, Inc.
College Park, MD
$450,000 capital grant to purchase and renovate a two-story 6,600 sq. ft. building on 1.5 acres to establish a new clinic and headquarters for Pregnancy Aid Center, serving low-income and uninsured women  http://www.pregnancyaidcenter.org/

United Way of Lackawanna County
Scranton, PA
$300,000 operating grant to support the annual budget of the United Way to fund its emergency needs programs in assisting low-income and vulnerable residents http://www.uwlc.net/

Harford Family House, Inc.
Aberdeen, MD
$163,000 capital grant to renovate the apartments within the grantee's building so that Harford Family House can continue to provide safe housing for homeless families with children http://www.harfordfamilyhouse.org/

Manna Food Center, Inc.
Gaithersburg, MD
$50,000 capital grant to support the purchase of two refrigerated trucks with lift gates http://www.mannafood.org/

The Samaritan Community, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$22,500 Maryland Small Grant to support an organization that provides assistance to meet the needs of families and individuals who are in crisis http://www.samaritancommunity.org/

Carroll County Food Sunday, Inc.
Westminster, MD
$12,500 Maryland Small Grant to support the expansion of an outreach program, which provides food to pantries located in remote areas of Carroll County  http://www.ccfoodsunday.org/

Education, Children, Youth & Families

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation aims to build economic self-sufficiency through child/family development and education, from early childhood through high school graduation, preparing individuals for success in college or the workplace. Funding is intended to address critical issues in education, as well as youth homelessness, child abuse, and domestic violence.

Cristo Rey Network
Chicago, IL
$471,371 capital grant to support construction and renovation of Cristo Rey Network high schools in Brooklyn, Washington DC, and Chicago. The Christo Rey Network is comprised of 24 quality, Catholic, college preparatory high schools for low-income urban youth with limited educational options. www.cristoreynetwork.org

Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeastern Pennsylvania
Scranton, PA
$300,000 program grant to provide a cross-county collaboration between the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Jewish Community Center of Wyoming Valley www.bgcnepa.org

Baltimore Child Abuse Center, Inc. (BCAC)
Baltimore, MD
$242,000 capital grant to pay off, in part, the outstanding mortgage from the 2008 purchase and renovation of its office building as part of BCAC’s mission to support and assist child abuse victims and their non-offending caretakers  www.BaltimoreChildAbuseCenter.org

Roca, Inc.
Chelsea, MA
$150,000 capital grant to support the purchase and renovation of the new headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts, with the aim of moving high-risk youth and young adults out of violence and poverty www.rocainc.org

Fund for Educational Excellence
Baltimore, MD
$100,000 program grant for Baltimore City’s system-wide Middle School STEM Summer Learning Program, which was funded through the federal Investing in Innovation (i3) program www.ffee.org

Tikva Children's Home
New York, NY
$100,000 operating grant to support the annual operating budget of a Jewish orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine which rescues children from poverty, neglect, and abuse and provides direct services to meet their basic human needs  www.tikvaodessa.org

Reach Out and Read, Inc.
Boston, MA
$50,000 challenge program grant to support the early literacy and school readiness initiative targeting children from low-income families in Baltimore City and Baltimore County through interventions with the child's primary healthcare provider www.reachoutandread.org

Episcopal Community Services of Maryland
Baltimore, MD
$20,000 program grant to support the Ark preschool in Baltimore City which focuses on language and social skills development to move homeless children toward public school readiness www.ecsm.org

Maryland Foster Youth Resource Center, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$50,000 Maryland Small Grant to provide general operating support for training and referral services for youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood www.mfyrc.org

Building STEPS
Baltimore, MD
$25,000 Maryland Small Grant to support the operating budget of an organization that provides low-income high school students with the tools needed to enter and graduate from college through seminars, paid summer internships, college access workshops, and alumni services www.buildingSTEPS.org

Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$20,000 Maryland Small Grant to support the operating budget of an organization that provides no-cost mental health and case management services to survivors of torture and severe trauma www.astt.org

Ready at Five
Baltimore, MD
$20,000 Maryland Small Grant to support a challenge grant for the Ready at Five VIOLETS Program at the Day Spring and Umoja Head Start programs and Patterson Park Public Charter School www.readyatfive.org

General Community Support

This program area includes support for Jewish causes worldwide and local community development efforts such as renovation or construction of affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization and community improvement in low-income neighborhoods, and grants to organizations that distribute funds to many of the Foundation’s priority areas.

Fisher House
Ft. Belvoir, VA
$350,000 capital grant to support the construction of housing for visiting families of active duty military and veterans who are receiving critical care at military medical centers. This is the second Fisher House the Weinberg Foundation has supported http://www.fisherhouse.org/

Workforce Development

The Weinberg Foundation is committed to helping people to help themselves by obtaining and keeping employment, preferably on a career track. The Foundation funds programs which provide the “life-tools” for clients to lift themselves from poverty into solid self-support.

Civic Works
Baltimore, MD
$525,000 capital grant to renovate and restore the historic Clifton Mansion, the headquarters of the direct service provider Civic Works which transforms the lives of Baltimore area youth through community service and skills development http://www.civicworks.com/

Nishmat
Jerusalem, Israel
$200,000 operating grant to provide young Ethiopian-Israeli women in a residential setting with tools for their personal and professional advancement, enabling them to succeed in academic studies and life http://www.nishmat.net/NEW.php

Upwardly Global
New York, New York
$200,000 program grant to provide support for job search, skills training and acculturation coaching, one-on-one mentoring, and job placement assistance for 500 underemployed and unemployed immigrants http://www.upwardlyglobal.org/

Maryland CASH (Job Opportunities Task Force)
Baltimore, MD
$120,000 program grant to support free tax preparation and asset building activities for low-income workers in Maryland targeting Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Harford, Montgomery, Prince George's, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties http://mdcash.org/

Tech Career
Kibbutz Nachshon, Israel
$75,000 operating grant to train and place low-income Ethiopian Israeli young adults in professional positions in Israeli high tech industries http://www.tech-career.org

Supportive Community
Tel Aviv, Israel
$50,000 program grant to support low-income women who seek the knowledge and tools to create or expand small businesses http://www.svivatomehet.org.il/site/index.asp?depart_id=60958&lat=en

Community Grants Overviews

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is committed to keeping in touch with its many grantees, partners, and other stakeholders. In an effort to provide more focused, detailed information (and to be more environmentally conscious) the Foundation has replaced the traditional annual report with grants overviews. These overviews highlight selected grants within each of the Foundation’s program areas as well as within broader communities of funding.

So far, we have completed overviews for the Jewish community, Maryland, and the program area of Older Adults. Most of these will provide a three-year retrospective by grant area. You can find these grants overviews on our website by clicking here.

Book Drive! The Latest on the Library Project

The Weinberg Foundation is eager to update you on the exciting progress of the Baltimore Elementary and Middle School Library Project. All four of the libraries included in the first year of the Project are moving through the planning stage. In addition, the Weinberg Foundation is pleased to announce another $1 million in funding for the second year of the Library Project.

The next chapter of the Library Project, which will include filling up the new libraries with books, is about to begin! In partnership with Baltimore Reads, the Foundation is leading a community-wide book drive throughout the month of March (National Reading Month). Almost 40 community partners have committed to place book drop-off bins at roughly 80 locations across the Baltimore area to collect new books for students ages 3 - 14. We are also partnering with Heart of America Foundation to purchase new books for the libraries and for students to take home and build their home libraries.

If you would like to be involved, or for more information, please contact Kate Sorestad, Library Project Coordinator, by email ksorestad@hjweinberg.org or by phone 410-654-8500 x 249. Please also look for the Project’s new website at www.baltimorelibraryproject.org which will launch, along with the Book Drive, on March 2.

National Conference on Aging/Caregiver Initiative

Michael Marcus, Program Director for Older Adults, will serve as a speaker for several presentations at this year’s Aging in America Conference which will be held March 28-31 in Washington, DC. Many programs funded through the Weinberg Caregiver Initiative, now in its final year, will be highlighted in other seminars. The Caregiver Initiative is a three-year $15.4 million project, including an $8.4 million Weinberg Foundation grant, involving 14 nonprofits nationwide. Their goal is to demonstrate innovative and evidence-based community projects which help family and friends care for chronically ill or disabled, low- and moderate-income older adults. The Foundation also will host its annual gathering for all of the Caregiver Initiative participants. Click here to learn more about the Weinberg Foundation Caregiver Initiative.

Hold the Date! Tuesday, November 13, 4-6 p.m.

And finally, it’s never too early to mark your calendar for a truly special afternoon with more than one thousand of the Foundation’s closest friends. This year’s Annual Community Gathering will be held Tuesday, November 13, from 4-6 p.m. with some exciting changes. This year’s event will be held at the historic Hippodrome Theatre on Eutaw Street in West Baltimore. But the venue isn’t the only surprise. The Foundation will host a nationally known philanthropic speaker! 
The Foundation will have more details soon.

Also, the Weinberg Foundation looks forward to seeing many of its friends and associates who will be in Baltimore for the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly which will take place November 11-13. The Foundation’s Annual Community Gathering will be held immediately after the conclusion of the General Assembly. The Weinberg Foundation hopes that many of those attending the General Assembly will make plans to stay for the Annual Gathering at the Hippodrome. Please hold the date!